Chemical Engineers (Process Engineers)

Summary
Chemical engineers are intimately involved with the fundamental development, design, construction and operation of industrial process plants where various commodities are produced through numerous methods of chemical synthesis, concentration and separation. Their primary responsibility is to mastermind the development of such industrial-process flow sheets through their understanding of chemical kinetics, thermodynamics and the control of mass transfer and energy transfer. Chemical engineers can specialise in many areas of expertise, such as petrochemical, biochemical, organic polymers, geopolymers, food and beverages, fertilisers, mineral processing and environmental, to name a few. The chemical engineer is primarily an engineer and not a chemist. However, chemical engineering distinguishes itself from other engineering disciplines in that chemical engineers have a thorough knowledge and understanding of chemistry and chemical kinetics, which enables them to combine the test-tube information of the laboratory chemist with full-scale engineering principles. Consequently, they create industrial plants in which the composition or properties of substances are changed on a large scale. Therefore, a healthy interest in applied science and chemistry is a prerequisite for becoming a successful chemical engineer. In addition, since most industrial plants encapsulate equipment and infrastructure worth millions of dollars and generate substantial revenue, many chemical engineers are required to be astute managers to ensure effective and cost-effective operation and maintenance of such plants. Chemical engineering plants produce products that are crucially important to almost every sphere of the modern society, be it in the form of basic consumables, commodities, or environmental services. Typical examples are: fossil-based petrol, diesel, fuel gas and other fuel derivatives; bio-fuels, such as bio-ethanol and bio-diesel; minerals, metals and related products, for instance iron and steel, gold, platinum, coal, copper, glass, diamonds, etc; paper and other products produced from wood pulp; fertilisers, pesticides and other agricultural products; food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and other products for human consumption; polymeric materials (plastics), such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene (PE), polyurethane (PU), nylon, etc. environmental services, such as desalination of water, treatment of industrial effluents and reduction of air pollution.

Process engineering

Mineral processing is such a fundamentally important and economically significant discipline that it is often categorised on its own as mineral processing engineering. Therefore, quite often, the term process engineering is rather used to define the broader group of engineers who apply chemical engineering principles in any category of chemical engineering, such as petrochemical, biochemical, organic polymers, geopolymers, food and beverages, fertilisers, mineral processing and environmental, including mineral processing.

Perhaps the most significant difference between an engineer and a fundamental scientist is the engineers ability to design and build equipment. Engineers apply scientific principles to produce products and infrastructure. To this end, chemical engineers apply scientific principles to produce plants in which products are manufactured by chemical manipulation and interaction. Many chemical engineers eventually operate in areas of business and industry that are no longer directly related to the fundamental chemical engineering industry, where they apply their well-developed skills in logical problem solving, scientific thinking and project management. However, as a starting point, basic chemical engineering education typically equips the student with knowledge and skills related to the following: Flow of material (gas, liquid, or solid at certain temperatures and pressures) and related flow of energy contained in such material. This requires the chemical engineer to have a good knowledge of: o the theory and mechanics of fluid flow and the behaviour of particulate matter suspended in liquid, gas or other particulate media; o principles of mass- and energy balances coupled with a thorough understanding of thermodynamic principles. Transfer of energy between substances. Such transfer is often achieved by, amongst others: o direct interaction of material with a high specific energy content with material containing less specific energy; o transfer of energy via heat exchangers, mechanical mixers, electrical elements, etc. Synthesis of higher-value components through chemical interaction of raw materials in a series of processes where the applicable chemical environment, kinetics and thermodynamics are regulated and controlled. This forms the heart of true chemical engineering, requiring a knowledge of: o chemical thermodynamics and molecular behaviour; o reaction kinetics and reactor design; o organic, inorganic, analytical and biochemistry. Concentration and separation of desirable products from raw materials or other products, requiring an understanding of, amongst others: o numerous unit operations such as distillation, extraction, absorption, flotation, electrostatic and magnetic separation, crushing and grinding, ion exchange and membrane separation; o vapour-liquid equilibria, solid-liquid interaction and super-critical behaviour of substances. Integration, operation, control and management of such processes, requiring knowledge of: o process plant design, economics, cost estimation and management;

Fundamentals of chemical engineering

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process control and optimisation; environmental protection, ethics and safety regulations.

In order to do their work effectively, process engineers need to work in close collaboration with other engineers (for instance mechanical, civil and electrical), scientists (for instance chemists, food scientists and environmentalists) and economists. It is not appropriate to attempt a complete summary of the process engineers involvement in industry, but some of the most prominent areas are highlighted below to indicate the diverse nature of related work.

Petrochemical and polymers

The chemical engineer plays a fundamental and key role in the development and operation of petrochemical and polymer production plants. Some of the largest companies in the world generate most of their revenue from the supply of fuels to drive modern-day transport systems. Liquid fuels are produced either from fossilbased sources such as oil, coal and natural gas, or from biomaterial. Like petrochemical fuels, organic polymers (plastics) are hydrocarbon-based, so that the required light hydrocarbons utilised in the synthesis of plastic polymers are also derived from the same sources as fuels. For example, ethylene produced by steam cracking of hydrocarbons is used to produce products such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyesters, etc. Global warming is partly ascribed to the burning of fossil-based hydrocarbons and resultant release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This steady increase of the CO2 concentration in atmospheric air, together with the inevitable decrease of fossil-fuel reserves, creates a strong drive towards the development and operation of viable and reliable production of non-fossil-based hydrocarbon fuels and products, for instance bio-diesel and bio-ethanol. Apart from the fundamental chemical engineering skills, petrochemical engineers need to have a good knowledge of organic chemistry and related manufacturing processes such as gasification, steam-reforming, distillation, hydro-cracking and catalytic conversion, to name a few.

Mineral processing

Mineral processing engineers primarily focus on the production of various concentrated minerals and metals from mined ore, whereas the mining operation itself is the responsibility of mining engineers. The mined ore is crushed and subsequently treated in various processes firstly to separate the valuable minerals from other low-value gangue minerals and then to extract the valuable metals from the concentrated minerals. To design, build and operate such plants, the mineral processing engineer requires an intimate knowledge of unit operations such as crushing, grinding, hydrocyclones, screening, flotation, electrostatic and magnetic separation, gravity separation, particle sorting, hydro-metallurgical leaching and extraction, pyrometallurgical smelting, electroplating and chemical precipitation. The mineral processing engineer applies his basic knowledge of geology, composition of minerals and particle-liquid interaction mechanisms with his fundamental chemical engineering skills to design, build and operate mineral processing plants. Since some of the largest companies in the world focus on mining and subsequent supply of minerals and metals, there is no doubt that the mineral processing engineer plays a key role in the resources industry.

Paper and pulp

Products manufactured from wood pulp include fine paper for printing and photocopying, magazines, tissues, toilet paper, paper towels, boxes and bags for packaging, paper money, tickets, etc. All these products mainly consist of processed cellulose fibres, sourced from trees (and sometimes also from other sources such as cotton, hemp and rice). Prior to the final paper manufacturing process, the wood is treated in a series of steps to expose the cellulose fibres, separate them from the lignin binder material and then produce bleached stock. The effective design, construction and operation of such processing plants with related effluent treatment facilities require the intimate involvement of skilled chemical engineers.

Fertilisers

Fertilisers can be inorganic (minerals) or organic in nature. The production of mineral fertilisers follows a series of process steps, converting raw materials such as water, nitrogen (from the air around us), phosphate rock, potash and pyrite to intermediate products such as ammonia, nitric acid, phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid and then to final mineral fertilisers such as urea, ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulphates, ammonium phosphates and superphosphates. As such, the chemical engineer plays a pivotal role in the production of an essential consumable for modern-day agriculture.

Food, beverages and pharmaceuticals

Numerous products are produced for human consumption on a daily basis. Processes such as fermentation, distillation, membrane filtration and chemical preservation are commonly applied to produce alcoholic beverages and juices. Pharmaceutical products although relatively small in daily quantities if compared to the petrochemical and mineral processing industries involve the production of high-quality chemical derivates under strictly controlled hygienic conditions. In all these cases, where chemical or bio-chemical reactors and concentration operations are operated in series to produce a final consumable product, the process skills of chemical engineers are utilised.

Environmental

Most of the large-scale industrial operations produce solid wastes, liquid effluents or air-born pollutants. A strong need for highly skilled environmental engineers developed as modern society evolved from crude industrial expansionism in the early twentieth century towards responsible integration of environment and industry. Therefore, some process engineers choose to specialise in services related to effective control and treatment of effluents. They become experts in the treatment of water and industrial effluents (for instance desalination, biological digestion, chemical precipitation, filtration, etc.), the minimisation of air pollution and the application of environmental regulations. Prof A J Burger